decorating tips

Here are 10 great tips to keep in mind when you are garage sale decorating:

Go to garage sales with a purpose. Make a list of items you are looking for and look ONLY for those items. If you go looking for things in general you will find yourself buying what you don’t need or cannot use. Never buy anything just because it is a great deal without a specific purpose in mind. If you get into that habit you will find your own home becoming cluttered with items you have wasted your money on and in need of your own sale. Learn to say no.

Look past colors and focus more on the shape and use of items. MANY of my best items have been made even better with a can of spray paint.

Don’t get too put off by scratches, dents, and dings. Sometimes a small chip in a beautiful china plate hung on a wall or a vase that is broken and glued has more character than new.

If you love something but don’t need it for whatever it’s intended use is… get creative and try to find and alternative use for it. I have bought many kitchen containers with broken or missing lids and used them to hold candles or as planters to accent my room. Get your imagination going… think outside the box.

Shop for items to group together. Rather than spread like items throughout a room, group them together in one space for maximum impact. So in purchasing items, consider what you have already purchased in deciding on your new purchase. You want variation, but stay within a theme.

Don’t be afraid to make changes. If you purchase an item for a specific use and it doesn’t work, move it and make it work in another spot. Don’t get too caught up in feeling you must use it in only one place. I have many items in different rooms than I originally purchased them for.

Decide on a focal point in the room and decorate around that. Find a starting point and make everything work around that. This keeps the task from becoming overwhelming.

Allow some empty spaces between groupings. Not every piece of furniture, every wall, and every corner needs decoration. If you have a sofa with mounds of pillows, decorate the wall above simply and vice versa. Otherwise it becomes too much for the eye to see at once and begins to look more cluttered than decorated. There is a fine line. Be aware of it.

Inches matter. Keep accessories at varying heights and spaces. Don’t allow groupings to be all one height or create uniform spaces between the items. It takes a lot of time and experimenting to create a casual, thrown together look.

Have fun! When it is all said and done it is about you and what you like. Don’t worry over whether others approve. It is your home, enjoy filling it with things that you love.